The Cat Who Liked Water
by Lindoreda
Summary: You won't ever leave me, will you? Ienzo/Myde. For Light Within Darkness. New Years fic.


AN: This story is written for Light Within Darkness, who requested a holiday fic that was fluffy, humorous, and involved animals. I'm gonna be honest. I don't think it's funny, but Niffstral said that she actually laughed out loud when she read certain parts. As for the holiday part, I missed the deadline for Christmas, and the last 10 pages just wouldn't let themselves be written on time for New Years. So, it's my belated New Years fic, brought to you by Owl City, which is all I listened to while writing this. It's a day late and a dollar short, but here it is: the story of a boy and his cat (and more, but that was the original idea until Niffstral demanded... changes...). This is an AU, but it's as close to the canon as I could make it. The AU is essentially the canon with one small change, and that change causes all of the other differences that you may or may not notice. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I'd adopt Ienzo if I could. He's so damn cute. But alas... I can't. I don't own Kingdom Hearts, either.

* * *

"A kitten?"

The small yellow kitten looked up slowly. A human child was looking down at him with a wide blue eye. The kitten shivered. It was so cold, and it was only October…

"You're cold," the boy said calmly to the cat.

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

"Do you have a home?"

Would he be shivering outside in the cold if he did? A cat really wouldn't want to stay in a home that would put them outside in this weather anyway. The kitten gave the boy a pitiful look, so he moved closer, and held his hand out. The kitten sniffed it delicately.

…What exactly was that smell? The kitten wondered, his blue-green eyes clouded with confusion.

"Do you want to come with me?" That blue eye stared unblinkingly at the shivering feline. "I can't give you much. I live in an orphanage. But you would be warm."

Pitied by an orphan. No wonder he smells.

The yellow cat rubbed against his hand, purring lightly. The boy decided that this was a sign of assent, suddenly picking up the cat and cradling him in his tiny arms.

"Okay," he exclaimed. "You're coming with me."

The kitten meowed cheerfully.

"Do you have a name?"

Even if I had one, I couldn't exactly tell it to you, the cat thought, staring blankly at the boy.

He smiled a little. "I'm Ienzo," he announced, "and you're Myde."

I can live with that, the cat decided.

Ienzo took Myde back to his orphanage. He kept the kitten in his room in secret, and fed him part of his own daily food. Myde felt kind of bad about it; Ienzo didn't get much to eat anyway, and he was using that to feed Myde as well. But something happened. Myde learned pretty quickly that other humans considered Ienzo a child genius. Even though he's older (i.e. not a baby), a lot of young couples wanted to adopt him, but he didn't want them to adopt him. Myde wanted to ask him if he was waiting for someone, or if he just wanted to live in this orphanage for the rest of his life, but, ya know, Ienzo may have been a genius, but he couldn't speak cat.

Then he came. Ansem the Wise. The big tuna himself, as Myde mentally called the man. He'd heard of the little genius orphan, and decided to make Ienzo an offer that he'd have to be stupid to refuse. Basically, getting whisked away from the orphanage, getting a decent room and decent food, and all by becoming Ansem's apprentice. He would be able to further his education with the most highly regarded man in all of Radiant Garden. There was no way he'd ever get a better adoption offer, unless he was looking for normal, loving parents, and he'd turned all of those couples down.

Ienzo showed Myde to Ansem, and asked if he could bring the kitten with him. Myde didn't expect that. "I won't leave Myde," Ienzo said. "I love him." Then Ansem smiled, and told him that of course Myde could come. The next day, they were out of the orphanage and inside the castle.

For Myde, the castle was paradise: all the fresh fish and warm spots he could want.

Mmmmm… fish…

"Myde, I'm back," Ienzo announced as he kicked the door open, his arms caught in the sleeves of his white coat as he tried to shrug it off.

Myde bounded across the room quickly, wagging his tail when he got close to his master. Ienzo wrinkled his nose.

"Cats don't wag their tails, Myde," he scolded, wagging a thin finger at him.

Myde mewled dismissively, wagging his tiny tail more fiercely. Ienzo rolled his eyes and tossed his coat on the couch, throwing himself after it. Myde followed him, jumping up on the couch and curling up on his back.

"Get off," Ienzo murmured weakly. Myde pressed more of his weight down on him (though there wasn't much of it). "I had a bad day, Myde."

Myde got up and sat down next to Ienzo's head, rubbing his face with the small boy's. Do you want to talk about it? Myde wondered.

"Even doesn't like me," Ienzo muttered. "He thinks that because I'm a kid there's no way I'm anywhere near as smart as he is."

If he didn't think that, he'd kill you out of jealousy. In a few years, you'll be smarter than him. That's probably really scary for him, Myde insisted, though all Ienzo heard was a lot of frenzied mewling.

Sometimes, Myde wishes he could talk like a human, as his and Ienzo's conversations are pretty one-sided. But, if there actually were a way for that to happen, would he go to the trouble? No. Myde doesn't do trouble.

"He's probably just jealous," Ienzo decided, sitting up and petting the small furry creature. "I won't let him bother me."

Myde wagged his tail in agreement. Even's just a jealous old fogey, Myde declared uselessly. He wishes he were half as brilliant as someone half his height.

There was a knock on the door.

"Go see who it is," Ienzo commanded, lying back down on the couch.

Why ask a cat, the laziest animal that humans keep, to answer the door?

…Probably because he knows Myde will do it. The tiny cat never goes against his short savior.

Myde stuck his paw under the door and pulled. The door opened slowly, revealing one of Ansem's nameless, faceless servants.

"Master Ansem has summoned you, Ienzo," was the servant's message before departing. Did he even notice that a cat opened the door?

Ienzo sat up with a groan, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He pulled his white coat back on slowly, then reached down and picked up Myde. Myde meowed in distress as Ienzo put him in his coat pocket and left the room.

"You're coming with me," Ienzo explained, scratching Myde behind his ears. Myde whined his most pitiful whine in response. "At least I'm not making you walk the whole way," Ienzo muttered, shutting up the lazy animal.

No choice, then, Myde knew. What a stubborn little master I have. He's lucky he's cute, Myde decided.

What am I saying? _I'm_ lucky that _I'm_ cute. Myde sighed quietly, unwillingly accepting his place in the pecking order, wondering all the while, will Ienzo still want me when I grow up?

While Myde wondered, Ienzo walked, and they quickly reached the huge wooden door that marked Ansem's study. Ienzo pushed the door open easily (Myde supposed that the door was not as heavy as it looked) without bothering to knock.

Myde doesn't like Ansem's study. For one, it smells. He's always eating some weird flavor of ice cream, and now he and his desk smell like it. The experiments that he keeps in there smell pretty weird too. And the experiments are creepy. So creepy.

Ansem looked up from whatever he was writing when Ienzo walked in. He looked up too high at first, so he was probably expecting Even too. He smiled when he saw Ienzo, and gestured for him to come closer.

"You have been here for two months now," Ansem stated. "By now, the castle might seem more like home than it did initially. Therefore, I thought it pertinent to ask how you are adjusting."

Ienzo stiffened. He felt patronized. "I have had no problems worth noting," he replied indifferently. Ansem looked disappointed by this response. Myde felt like he should've expected this when he adopted Ienzo. The small boy hated being treated like he couldn't handle his own problems.

Myde huffed irritably, and Ansem noticed.

"Is that your cat, Ienzo?"

Ienzo nodded stiffly, lifting Myde out of his pocket and into his arms.

"Myde, is it?" Ansem extended a hand to the kitten, which Myde sniffed. Smells like weird ice cream. Still, Myde knew that this was the guy that buys his food, so he lowered his head for Ansem to pet. "I have heard a number of unusual things about Myde," Ansem began, scratching behind Myde's ears.

"Like?" Ienzo didn't sound very interested.

"There are those who think that he understands what you say to him, and that he does whatever you ask him to," Ansem explained, watching Ienzo carefully.

Myde thought this accusation to be preposterous. Of course he understood Ienzo. Knowing that, why wouldn't he do what the boy told him to? He couldn't in good conscious pretend that he didn't understand. Myde didn't want to lie that way.

"I cannot say for sure that he truly understands me, because I cannot understand his answer," Ienzo replied calmly. "But, he does do as I ask him, without exception."

That was good enough for Ansem.

"Would you mind if I conducted a brief experiment? Nothing in any way risky to Myde, of course," Ansem quickly added.

Myde's eyes were saying, "oh, hell no," but Ienzo nodded his assent anyway.

"Give him an order," Ansem instructed Ienzo.

"Retrieve _Darkness and the Mysteries of the Heart _from the bookshelf," Ienzo told Myde calmly.

Ansem looked dumbstruck. "Are you suggesting that Myde can read?" he asked incredulously.

"Just watch," Ienzo commanded him.

Myde had soon retrieved the large book from Ansem's bookshelf, astonishing the man exceedingly. The small cat placed the book before his master proudly, before settling down on top of the book.

"Astounding," Ansem announced. "Unless you directed him to the correct book somehow, it would appear that Myde can read and understand human languages. Truly remarkable."

Should a man of science so easily discount the possibility of some kind of trick? Ienzo and Myde both thought not. But Ansem was convinced, and Myde felt that his place in the castle had been secured. A mere cat could be thrown out into the cold if things got difficult, but a truly remarkable cat could not be spared. Ienzo privately agreed. He and Myde belonged together, and now they could be certain of that.

Short of Even using Myde for an experiment, anyway. That was always a distant possibility.

"Myde," Ienzo said one day, lying limply on his couch, "You won't ever leave me, will you?"

Myde curled up next to his tiny master's head, running his sandpapery tongue across Ienzo's cheek.

"That hurts," Ienzo murmured, though without conviction. Myde mewled cheerfully. "Stupid cat," the boy muttered, though not without affection, "but dogs are even less intelligent creatures. I suppose, therefore, that your level of stupidity will have to suffice."

Myde huffed, smacking Ienzo's face with his tail. For a genius, Ienzo discounted or forgot about Myde's unusual talents rather easily. It bothered the cat a little. Wasn't Ienzo even a little curious?

"Don't be mad," the boy pled, wide eyed. "I'll give you a bath later!"

A bath. Myde's favorite thing in the entire world, next to his tiny master, of course. Myde had been quite filthy when Ienzo had found him, and so Ienzo had decided to bathe him, and expected quite a struggle to get the kitten in the water. He had quickly discovered that Myde not only didn't mind water: he loved it. Ienzo had been surprised, but didn't dwell on it. Young as he was, his thinking was not yet entirely inflexible. So his cat loved water. To each their own, right?

The promise of a bath had the desired effect. Myde's eyes widened, and his quickly growing tail wagged furiously. Mad? Who's mad?

Ienzo smiled at the cat's reaction, gently petting the small, yellow head. "Do you think ill of anyone?" he asked quietly.

Myde stared up at Ienzo unblinkingly. Think ill? Of Ienzo? How could he?

"Of course you don't," Ienzo murmured. "Let's go give you that bath."

Oh, hell yes.

Ienzo was eight when he found Myde. In the environment that Ansem had brought Ienzo into, he could have been easily swayed by the wishes and desires of those around him, if not to fit in, then to stay out of trouble. As a genuinely lonely child, his desire for some small amount of validation could have given others the tools they needed to control him.

Ienzo was not alone, though. His small, furry companion provided him with the bare minimum of friendly company that Ienzo needed to avoid debasing himself. But Myde began to see that it wasn't enough. Ienzo needed human friends, close to his own age, or his loneliness would drive him to do something… something that Myde was too innocent to contemplate.

"Fuck men in bathrooms," was the phrase Myde's (hopefully dearly departed) mother would have used, but she'd never said such a thing around her young child. Not that Myde would have understood it anyway. No one had yet used the f-word around the cat.

Ienzo was now 16. He lived in the same room in Ansem's castle, and his days followed essentially the same pattern they had for the last eight years: get up, feed Myde (who was of course a fine, middle aged cat by now), get dressed, go to the lab, maybe eat breakfast, bicker with Even, eat lunch with Aeleus (Ienzo's personal watchdog), go back to the lab, escape to the library, return to his room, complain to Myde, make dinner, read, and sleep. It was a life without variation, and with very little enjoyment attached to it. Ienzo loved learning, but this lifestyle was too monotonous for him to get much out of it.

Ansem occasionally wondered if sending Ienzo to school would have improved his social skills, as the (now teenaged) boy, while an adept manipulator, had not been properly socialized. He knew how to be polite, but it was a cold politeness that sent others scurrying away from him. To Ansem and Aeleus he was less cold, but Myde was the only one who ever saw any warmth from the boy. Ienzo's fondness for the cat was all that convinced Ansem that his youngest apprentice was capable of normal human emotions. It was all that kept Ansem from taking drastic measures.

"Sometimes I wish you were human," Ienzo told Myde one day as he read another massive book with Myde sitting peaceably in his lap. "But then, I suppose we might never have met if you were human," the boy observed mildly. "Locked away from the outside world as I am, and lacking even the most basic knowledge of interaction with one's equals, I suspect the only new humans I will meet shall be new servants until Ansem dies."

Myde only cared for the happiness of one human, and that was Ienzo. If Ienzo were unhappy, Myde would do whatever it took to make him happy again. If becoming human was what it would take to make Ienzo happy, it had to be possible, right?

…Actually, it was very possible. Myde had a secret, after all. He hadn't meant to keep it a secret, but he couldn't exactly tell anyone, anyway.

Myde was actually a human. He would have been a 17-year-old boy that year, had his enchantress mother, tired of her son's mastery of sloth, never turned him into a kitten. He had only been nine years old when his mother had decided that things had gone on long enough.

She had always been an impulsive woman. It certainly explains how Myde was born, and why he was raised entirely by his mother. Why he was turned into a cat one day and cast out of the house could also be explained by her impulsive nature. She was not cruel, however. She left her son an out, as it were. He could become human again, if he wanted to regain his humanity for the sake of another. His mother knew her son to be an entirely selfish being, after all: a child fixated on his own comfort above all things. A cat was the perfect form for him. Perhaps he would never want to be human again, despite the decreased lifespan.

Some distant part of Myde's mother's heart wanted him to desire his humanity once again. That's why she gave him a condition that seemed to come straight from a fairy tale. For eight years, Myde valued his life as a cat, and the perks that came with it. But, the time had come to give it up. His master needed a human companion. Myde steeled his tiny heart for what was to come. He didn't know that his mother had set a condition that would make it possible for him to become human again, so he made a wish on a shooting star on the eve of the new year, that he might return to his human form.

Ienzo had not expected to wake up next to a naked male, remembering nothing of the night before (or nothing that would explain this, anyway), for a few more years at least. Nevertheless, a nude blond lay on the spot that Myde usually occupied in Ienzo's bed. Moreover, Ienzo was disturbed to realize that the blond was exactly his type (or what he imagined his type to be, anyway). There could be little doubt of what had happened, but he remembered nothing out of the ordinary.

The blond stirred, and Ienzo stiffened. Eyelids opened slowly, revealing (oddly familiar) aqua eyes. The blond finally noticed Ienzo, and adopted a hurt expression when he met the other boy's eyes.

"Why are you staring at me?" he asked, then clapped his hands over his mouth in surprise. What an unusual reaction.

"I'm staring at you," Ienzo began in a low voice, "because I have never seen you before in my life, and yet you are naked in my bed."

"What do you mean, you haven't seen me before? I'm… Wait, I'm naked?" The blond looked down at his body, reddening suddenly. "Holy crap, I'm human! That explains why you can understand me, I guess," the blond murmured.

Ienzo raised his visible eyebrow. "You're 'human?' Is that not a normal state of being for you?"

"It used to be," the blond admitted mournfully. "But I was a cat for eight years. That's what I wanted to tell you. I'm Myde."

There was a brief silence, during which Ienzo stared at the blond incredulously. "You expect me to believe," Ienzo began, "the you, a human, are actually my cat, and are now mysteriously human? And not for the first time, apparently."

"Yup," the blond agreed, sitting cross-legged. "I was born human, but my mother turned me into a cat. She thought it was a more fitting form for me, apparently."

Ienzo blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice. "Why would you suddenly turn back, then?"

"Myde" shook his head. "I don't know. I wished for it, but I know better than to think that a wish could turn me back."

Ienzo knew better than to suddenly believe the word of an unknown man, even if his cat, who always slept with him, was suddenly missing in action. He was a carefully coddled genius, after all. Surely, there was a rational explanation.

…Was there a rational explanation for why this… individual, who claimed to be Myde, had curled up on Ienzo's lap, heedless of the fact that he was currently a naked human? Ienzo's hair stood on end at the sudden skin-to-skin contact, as he himself was only wearing boxers.

"What do you think you're doing?" Ienzo hissed, trying to shove the blond off him.

"Sorry," the blond murmured, hastily removing himself from, Ienzo's lap. "I forgot."

Ienzo wasn't convinced. Catlike behavior could just be a ploy, an act to convince him of this ridiculous story. Was there anything that the blond could do to convince Ienzo otherwise?

"Do you have any proof of your condition?" Ienzo asked lightly.

The blond scratched his head. "Umm… well, you can probably still smell cat food on my breath."

Ienzo knew not why he did what he did. Temporary insanity, perhaps, caused by the shock of the situation. Regardless, the hapless blond quickly found himself pinned to the bed, with Ienzo's tongue in his mouth. Confused by the situation as he was, "Myde" neither struggled nor participated, content to wait for an explanation.

Ienzo rose eventually, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "There certainly is cat food on your breath," he announced indifferently, as if he hadn't just stuck his tongue down the throat of a boy who claimed to be his cat, "but I am not convinced. Tell me something that only Myde would know."

All in all, Myde's reveal was not going well. He was naked, pinned to the bed, had lost his first kiss, and felt no closer to convincing Ienzo than he had been initially. The day was shaping up _wonderfully_.

"The book you had me retrieve for Ansem was _Darkness and the Mysteries of the Heart_," Myde answered after a moment of thought. "You found me in an alley, in the middle of October. You rejected everyone who came to adopt you, and I wanted to ask why. When you accepted Ansem, you told him that you wouldn't leave me." Myde looked down in embarrassment. "That you loved me." He looked up quickly, attempting to meet Ienzo's eye, but Myde's smile was shaky. "I guess that's an easy thing to say about an animal, huh?"

Ienzo felt his opinion being swayed in favor of the blond's story. Certainly the details matched, and the hurt in the blond's eyes caused sharp pain to shoot through Ienzo's heart. He'd hurt Myde. By not believing him, by… Ienzo could not think of what he had just done without a dose of self-loathing. He promptly removed himself from on top of the blond, and chose the most suitable course of action.

"You're filthy," Ienzo announced, though Myde was clearly perfectly clean. "Perhaps a bath is in order before we decide what should be done."

Myde's aqua eyes lit up, and if he'd still had a tail, it would have been wagging wildly. Ienzo was now convinced, though disturbed. Though he had wished occasionally that Myde were human, now there was a human who knew all of his secrets. What to do?

Ienzo hadn't reached a decision as he filled the bathtub with water, or helped Myde into the water (walking on two legs was a shaky business for him, apparently), or attempted to leave the room. He hadn't reached a decision when Myde grabbed his arm to stop him from leaving, but his decision was made when the blond told him, a dark blush staining his cheeks, that losing his human form at such a young age had prevented him from learning to be self-reliant, and so could Ienzo please stay in the room, to make sure that Myde didn't drown himself?

That request quickly turned into Ienzo washing Myde's hair for him, while the blond splashed about happily. It was no longer difficult for Ienzo to believe that the boy playing cheerfully in his bathtub had been his pet cat for eight years. Ienzo's next steps were clear. Myde must remain with him, Ansem must be informed, and Myde must be properly outfitted. He couldn't just stay naked, the very thought triggered a blush. Myde was not nearly conscious enough of what most humans would be very conscious of. Ienzo supposed that living as a cat for half of your life could certainly make nudity seem inconsequential, among other things.

"You're hurt," Myde cried suddenly, grabbing Ienzo's hand. Sure enough, there was a small cut on Ienzo's right hand, slowly leaking blood. Before Ienzo could respond, Myde was licking the cut gently, his tongue no longer scratchy or sandpapery.

Ienzo's heart beat like a drum. Surely Myde could feel it? Why wasn't he saying anything? Why wasn't he stopping?

"The bleeding's not stopping," Myde murmured quietly, with a hint of bewilderment.

"It's fine," Ienzo replied hoarsely, pulling his hand away. "I'll take care of it. You…" Ienzo hesitated. "You shouldn't do things like that."

Myde blushed again. "Sorry," he whispered. "I keep forgetting that I'm not a cat anymore."

"Try to remember," Ienzo scolded him. "I'm going to find you some clothes. Try not to drown while I'm gone."

Ienzo left the bathroom quickly, leaning heavily on the wall outside. He hoped that Myde would quickly adapt to being human again. This child in an adult's body was exhausting to deal with.

…The exact opposite of himself, Ienzo realized. He'd always been an adult in a child's body.

…Maybe things would work out.

In the end, Ienzo managed to find a long, loose shirt, boxers, and a pair of sweatpants that would fit Myde, but talking to Ansem could not be avoided. Ienzo hoped that the man would believe the story more quickly than Ienzo had, but there was always the chance that Ansem wouldn't believe it at all. It was a risk Ienzo had to take, so he summoned a servant to bring Ansem as soon as he could reasonably come.

Myde struggled with dressing himself, forcing Ienzo to take over, lest Ansem arrive to an unclothed Myde. However, while Myde did not object to wearing shirts, he struggled wildly when Ienzo tried to put boxers on him.

"They're itchy and uncomfortable!" Myde whined, thrashing his arms and legs as Ienzo tried to get the boxers on him. The end result involved Ienzo pinning a thrashing Myde to the couch, and that was when Ansem the Wise made his entrance. He had missed their conversation in which Ienzo told Myde that he would wear boxers and like it, and so to the esteemed ruler of Radiant Garden, it appeared that his youngest apprentice was sitting astride a half-naked young man lying facedown on the couch, whose undergarments he had just removed, and Ienzo himself had never dressed himself beyond his own undergarments, so the situation seemed quite obvious to the older man.

"Perhaps another time would be better," the man remarked with air more of amusement than surprise, quickly backing out of the room. He had never been one for knocking, so had walked in on all manner of private scenes in his time.

"It's Ansem, it's Ansem," Myde cried cheerfully, and Ienzo used that moment of distraction to pull Myde's boxers on the rest of the way. After gracefully dismounting and calling Ansem back, the situation was promptly explained.

"There did always seem to be something odd about Myde," was Ansem's reaction. In short, he believed the story far more easily than Ienzo had. This was apparently because he had heard of Myde's mother and her capricious nature. "But if you were born human," Ansem continued with a troubled expression, "then don't you have a different name?"

"I forgot it," Myde admitted, shrugging.

"Well, I suppose that simplifies things," Ansem admitted thoughtfully.

"'Things?'" Ienzo asked with an air of concern.

"Myde requires documentation, education, clothing and a place to stay. If he doesn't know his real name, then no one will need to find his old information. New documents can be made more easily than the old ones can be found, I suspect," Ansem explained calmly.

"Myde has a place to stay," Ienzo interjected coldly. "With me."

"Is that what you want, Myde?" Ansem asked the blond with studied indifference to his apprentice's wishes.

"Of course!" Myde answered immediately, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I wouldn't want to be human again if it meant being away from Ienzo. He's the whole reason I wanted to turn back!"

Ienzo blushed at Myde's open, honest confession. Ansem too seemed slightly taken aback at Myde's declaration. Ansem was the first to recover himself.

"And where would you sleep? Would you share Ienzo's bed as you have always done?"

"Of course I-" Myde began confidently, but he faltered when he say Ienzo's red, downcast face, "-would…"

"It would appear that you either did not consider or did not fully understand the implications of returning to your human form," Ansem chided, though not unkindly. "Ienzo wants you to remain with him, but things will not stay the same as they always have."

"I guess I… should've thought about it more," Myde murmured weakly.

The rest of the conversation was spent deciding how to handle Myde's education. He insisted that he didn't need to go to school, for a reason that he wouldn't share. Ansem was eventually persuaded that Myde might struggle in a normal school environment because of how far behind he was in both standard learning and communicating with others. Emotionally, he had not matured much past the age at which he'd been transformed. His innocence would make him a target. So, they all agreed (quite grudgingly) that Myde should have a tutor.

Myde's clothing would be ready the next day, the cat toys and food had been removed, and the couch had been turned into a temporary bed until one could be obtained. Everything had been settled, except for one thing, but Ienzo waited to address it until Ansem departed.

"What about your mother?" he asked Myde with a hint of concern.

"She threw me out. I don't really have a reason to go back to her," Myde explained indifferently. "Besides, I don't remember where we lived. She might not even be there anymore."

To Ienzo, whose parents had both died of a sudden illness, this cold indifference of Myde's to his own mother was saddening, though not unexpected in any way. So, Ienzo moved on to another somewhat pressing topic.

"Myde…" Myde's heart jumped suddenly when Ienzo said his name. "Did you really want to become human again for my sake?" Ienzo stared determinedly at the floor while he asked. "Do I really seem that pathetic to you?"

Myde wanted to walk over there and bump Ienzo's forehead with his own, but he couldn't do that anymore. He felt like he'd been completely cut off from Ienzo, just because he couldn't touch him. Before, that had been all he'd had to communicate with.

"I don't think you're pathetic," Myde whispered. "I just didn't want you to be alone. You tried to hide it, but you were so lonely, and I couldn't fix it!" The tears forming in the corners of Myde's eyes caused a sharp pain to shoot through Ienzo's heart. "I thought, if I became human again, I could help you somehow, but I guess I've just made things more difficult for you." The sorrow in Myde's voice was almost unbearable to Ienzo.

"It's only difficult right now because this situation is highly unusual," Ienzo offered, attempting a comforting tone. "It will get better."

"You mean it?" Myde's eyes glistened with unshed tears.

"I do," Ienzo insisted.

Myde smiled a watery smile, wiping his eyes roughly. "Can I… hug you? That's okay, right?"

"Yes Myde. You can hug me."

Myde's tight, desperate embrace surprised Ienzo. Being completely engulfed in the arms of someone who had been, just the previous day, much smaller than him, was a very strange feeling. But, Ienzo thought, finding Myde's warmth comfortingly familiar, not a bad feeling at all.

* * *

Myde was supposed to sleep on the couch. He was. That was what they had decided, for the good of both of them. Ienzo didn't think he'd be able to sleep otherwise.

But…

"Ienzo?" Myde asked timidly, standing in the doorway of Ienzo's bedroom.

"Mmmm?" Ienzo murmured sleepily.

"I know we decided that we can't pretend that nothing's changed," Myde admitted in a breathless rush, "but I can't sleep. Can I sleep with you?"

Ienzo stared at Myde blearily, assessing the situation silently. He would never get any sleep if he agreed, but…

"Just this once," Ienzo allowed, rolling over so his back was facing the grudgingly boxer-clad blond.

Famous last words.

Myde behaved himself during the night. If Ienzo hadn't known better, he would have thought that Myde wasn't there. But he did know better. He didn't sleep that night. Amazing how distracting another teenage boy could be when you're only used to dealing with much older men and cats.

Ienzo eventually gave up, rolled out of bed, and started his day with very black coffee. Myde was unpleasantly surprised when he woke up alone, but chose not to comment on it, especially when Ienzo was making breakfast for the both of them. He almost never woke up early enough for that, and Myde had never tried cooking before. Thumbs are a requirement, after all.

Myde decided to try cooking while Ienzo was gone. He'd have a tutor starting tomorrow, so today was his chance to do whatever he wanted.

…Like learning to dress himself, since his clothes were coming.

There was a heavy knock on the door. Ienzo and Myde both knew who it was.

"I'll get it," Myde declared before Ienzo could stop him.

The man on the other side of the door was imposing, but Myde knew he was no one to fear. Aeleus's stature, reminiscent of a heavily armored tank, belied a quiet, gentle nature, making him the perfect person to watch over Ienzo, who would have driven a less patient person to distraction. Today he was carrying several cardboard boxes, from over the top of which he appraised the half-clothed blond who'd opened the door.

"Morning, Aeleus," Myde greeted easily.

The taller man's eyebrows shot up. "…Myde?"

Myde stared at Aeleus in shock. "You know?"

"I suppose Ansem thought that, as my closest companion after you," Ienzo interjected, emerging from the kitchen, "Aeleus would find out eventually, so he saved us an explanation. Do I suppose correctly, Aeleus?"

Aeleus nodded gravely. Then he indicated the boxes in his arms with his head. "Myde's clothes," he supplied.

The boxes were deposited next to Myde's couch/bed, and Ienzo made to leave for the day. Ienzo was halfway out the door when Myde stopped him.

"What's wrong?" Ienzo asked impatiently, a nagging sensation in the back of his mind telling him that he was already late.

"Nothing's wrong," Myde replied easily.

"Then why-" Ienzo began, but the words died on his lips. Myde had just given him a kiss on the cheek. A quick, innocent kiss, but that was all it took to stop Ienzo dead.

"I can't lick you anymore, so I figured a kiss on the cheek would be okay," Myde explained cheerfully. He doesn't know what he's doing, right? That thought was all that kept Ienzo from turning into an extremely intelligent puddle.

"I see," Ienzo replied shortly, turning to leave.

"Wait!" Myde cried anxiously, grabbing Ienzo's arm.

"What?" Ienzo was amazed at the evenness of his own voice at that moment.

Myde adopted a hurt expression. "Aren't you going to kiss me back?"

Okay, scratch that. Myde knew _exactly_ what he was doing. How he knew that Ienzo would endure a brief inner battle, before barely touching Myde's cheek and running the heck out of there can only be attributed to years of observation.

And a touch of sadism.

Ienzo's warning glare to Aeleus was softened somewhat by the delicate blush staining his cheeks. "Don't say anything," he hissed.

"I wasn't going to," Aeleus rumbled indifferently. They both waited a beat. "Except that I always thought that you would be the housewife," Aeleus supplied on cue.

"Aeleus!"

Aeleus chuckled softly at how little Ienzo's sharp tone matched his expression. He was currently trying to hide the other half of his face behind his hair, but he wasn't succeeding.

While Ienzo tried to hurry through his day, Myde tried on his new clothes (except for the pants. He understood why he had to wear underwear, but Ienzo would have another battle ahead of him to get Myde to wear pants) and attempted cooking. He found following recipes somewhat difficult. He chalked it up to doing almost no reading in the last eight years, and gave up. Though disappointed, Myde decided to wait until his tutor got him back to the necessary reading level.

He spent the remaining hours until Ienzo's return very bored. He couldn't just sleep like he used to, and all of Ienzo's books were waaaaaaay too difficult for him. He couldn't go outside either, because he refused to wear pants. It was a difficult day for Myde. When Ienzo finally returned, ready to throw himself on the couch like always, he was surprised by Myde, who practically threw himself onto the delicate scholar.

"I was sooooooo bored!" Myde whined into Ienzo's shoulder. "I tried cooking, but I couldn't understand the recipes, and your books are too hard, and…"

Ienzo quickly lost the thread of Myde's complaints, but not because he was tuning him out. The scene was so familiar to Ienzo; Myde flinging himself at him and meowing furiously, trying to tell him what exactly he'd gone through that day.

"It's the same," Ienzo murmured quietly.

"What?" Myde asked, breaking off his rant and letting go of Ienzo.

"Nothing," Ienzo replied easily, slipping off his coat and going to inspect the kitchen. He was pleased to find that Myde hadn't completely destroyed it, and had even attempted to clean up after himself. Ienzo smiled slightly. "You did well," he told Myde.

"Did well at what?" The blond tilted his head to one side, reminding Ienzo again of Myde's cat form.

"The kitchen is still here," Ienzo replied.

Myde pouted. "Just because I knocked something over one time…"

"You knocked over the dish drainer. It was full." Ienzo deadpanned.

"One time," Myde reminded him, still pouting.

Ienzo grinned behind his hair and set about preparing dinner. Myde watched him eagerly, and they settled back into one of their old nightly routines. The difference being that Myde would actually get to eat what Ienzo made from now on. He'd eaten leftovers that day and the day before, so tonight's dinner would be Myde's first taste of Ienzo's cooking when it was fresh. At some point during the dinner preparations, Ienzo had the chance to observe Myde's outerwear before having to turn around again.

"You never put on pants today," Ienzo stated accusatorily.

"If I don't go outside, I don't need 'em," Myde replied stubbornly.

"Your tutor is coming tomorrow," Ienzo reminded him. "You need to wear pants."

"Is my tutor a girl?" Myde asked conversationally.

"No…" Ienzo wondered what that had to do with anything.

"Then there's no problem," Myde declared confidently. "I don't need to put on pants for a guy."

Ienzo was very glad that Myde couldn't see his face at that moment, as it was quite red. What was he going to do with this oblivious blond?

"Myde," Ienzo replied firmly, "trust me. You will make others uncomfortable if you don't dress properly."

Myde squirmed in his chair. "Have I been making you uncomfortable?" Myde asked hesitantly.

Ienzo wanted to say no. He wanted to confidently tell Myde that of course had hadn't been. That would have been a lie. Living so close to another male near his own age was difficult enough, but Myde was helpless, guileless, and due to a lack of proper education, far too innocent. Add to all that Ienzo's attraction to Myde's human form, and the whole situation was a recipe for disaster. To say that Ienzo was uncomfortable with the situation would be an understatement.

Lie, Ienzo's conscience told him. Lie, or he'll leave.

"Of course not, Myde," Ienzo answered as lightly as he could. "But I am not everyone else."

Myde accepted that answer, and grudgingly agreed to dress properly the following day. When dinner was served, Myde buried Ienzo in compliments about his cooking, causing the shorter man to hide his face behind his hair in embarrassment. Myde claimed that he couldn't sleep, and spent another night in Ienzo's bed. Ienzo found the second night easier than the first, probably due to exhaustion. In the morning, Myde's tutor chose to enter without knocking (and brought a friend with him), and found the pair engaged in getting Myde dressed. Ienzo didn't bother explaining, instead allowing Myde to kiss him goodbye, returning the gesture, and fleeing without a word.

"Strange guy," Myde's tutor remarked companionably.

Myde eyed the older man with suspicion. "Who're you?"

The redhead seemed hurt. "I'm your tutor! Name's Lea, and that's Isa." Lea briefly indicated the blue-haired man behind him. "He's here to make sure I do a good job. Now, you got all that memorized?"

"Uh, sure," Myde replied with confusion. "Aren't you kind of young?" Both men appeared to be no more than a few years older than Myde, if that.

"Weeeeell, the old man said you were pretty far behind, so I'd say I'm exactly the right age," Lea replied cheerfully.

"Uh-huh," was Myde's skeptical response.

"Anyway," Lea continued, "today we have some tests for you to take, to give us an idea of exactly how far behind you are. You know how to read, right?"

"Of course!"

Myde hated tests. He did better than he thought he would on some of them, but still. A day devoted entirely to test taking was an unpleasant day indeed. When Lea and Isa finally left, Myde collapsed on the couch in exhaustion. Ienzo returned shortly afterwards, covered the sleeping Myde with a blanket, and once again set about making dinner. Myde eventually woke up to the smell of cooking fish.

"Nnngh…" Myde rubbed his eyes blearily. "Ienzo?"

"In the kitchen," Ienzo called, over the sizzling of frying fish.

Myde dragged himself tiredly into the kitchen, settling down heavily on the nearest chair and resting his head on the counter.

"I take it your first day was difficult?" Ienzo asked lightly.

"Tests all day," Myde moaned.

"Did you do badly?"

"I dunno," Myde muttered. "There were just so many of them."

"Ansem wants to make sure that you receive the best education possible," Ienzo explained, turning to face Myde. "In order to ensure that, your tutor must be intimately acquainted with your educational needs."

"I know, I know," Myde muttered into the countertop.

"I passed your tutor, Lea, on my way back," Ienzo told Myde, causing the blond the look up suddenly. "He said that, from what he saw of your tests, you're much better off than anyone originally thought."

Myde's eyes were bright. "Really?"

"Really."

"It must be because you were my master." Myde declared enthusiastically. Ienzo's skin prickled at the use of the word "master." "I probably learned stuff from you."

"It's certainly possible," Ienzo agreed, suppressing the unsettled feeling in his stomach. "Though I would attribute more to your own intelligence."

"Ienzo," Myde stated with a smile, causing the unsettling feeling to return, "you used to tell me all the time how stupid I was. Does my being human change that fact?"

Ienzo wanted to say, "of course it does," even though the fact of that matter was, he'd been wrong. But, Myde's certainty as he cited Ienzo, as if the everything the 16-year-old said was fact, made Ienzo hesitant to admit that he was wrong. He felt guilty, but… Myde had placed Ienzo second to God. Ienzo didn't know what to do about that. He didn't know if he should do anything at all.

So he changed the subject.

"Have you thought about your future at all?" he asked the blond, depositing fried fish onto paper plates.

Myde cocked his head to one side. "My future?"

Ienzo grit his teeth in frustration. "Like, what you want out of life. What you want to do."

"Oh," Myde murmured. "I just want to stay with you," he replied without embarrassment.

"Are you saying," Ienzo began heatedly, "that you want to live your entire life in these four rooms?"

"If I get to see you at the end of every day, then that'd be fine by me," Myde answered.

"That's not right," Ienzo almost shouted.

"Why not?" Myde looked hurt, but Ienzo was past the point of caring.

"You can't live your entire life completely dependent on me for your happiness!" Ienzo had started shouting.

"Why not?" Myde yelled back. "That's how it was before!"

"This isn't "before" anymore!" Ienzo's tone softened. "I don't even know what my own future looks like. I can't be responsible for another person's future too."

"You're not responsible for my future," Myde whispered. "Is it so weird that all I need is you?"

"Humans shouldn't say things like that so lightly," Ienzo informed Myde coldly.

"I know what I'm saying."

Dinner was eaten in silence, and Myde did not attempt to enter Ienzo's bed that evening. Ienzo left the next morning before Myde awoke. Lea and Isa found Myde sitting on the couch, staring blankly at the wall.

"You okay, kid?" Lea asked, waving a hand in front of Myde's eyes.

"Huh?" Myde's eyes came back into focus, and he looked up at the two older men.

"He asked if you were okay," Isa supplied softly.

"Dunno," Myde replied cheerfully.

"Uh-huh." Lea appraised the blond skeptically. He exchanged a look with Isa before continuing. "Say, what's the deal with you and Ienzo, anyway?"

"What'd Ansem tell you?" Myde asked evasively.

"Just that, for some reason or another, you hadn't been to school for about eight years, and that you were living with his youngest apprentice," Lea related disinterestedly.

"Ienzo's the only person in the world that I care about," Myde finally said, after a moment's pause.

Lea and Isa exchanged another glance.

"So, you love him." Lea's tone indicated that it wasn't a question.

"Of course," Myde replied sadly. "He just doesn't believe me."

Lea had nothing to say to that, and a brief silence fell, during which Myde stared at the floor, and Isa and Lea whispered heatedly between themselves. Eventually, Lea addressed Myde again.

"I guess we should get started," he muttered, scratching the back of his head. "The old man said that we didn't need to bother with history, since you seem to know it already. Instead, we're going to focus on reading, writing, and math."

Myde groaned.

"Hey, your reading vocabulary is all over the place," Lea explained. "You've got the basics down and a lot of really technical words, for some reason, but you've got nothing in between."

"We attributed this abnormality to the company you keep," Isa added.

"I noticed that two days ago," Myde admitted quietly. "I tried to cook, but I couldn't understand the recipe."

"Let's do that first, then," Lea replied cheerfully. "Get a cookbook, and we'll start."

They spent the morning going over Ienzo's cookbooks, and the afternoon trying to make some of the things described in them. By the time Ienzo returned, dinner and dessert had been prepared by a much happier Myde than the one who had pretended to be asleep as Ienzo left that morning.

"What's this?" Ienzo asked, mildly alarmed.

"Dinner," Myde chirped.

"…Since when can you read recipes?"

"Since today," Myde replied nonchalantly. "Lea made that today's lesson."

"I see," Ienzo murmured, uncertain as to whether he should thank or curse Lea.

"Dinner is macaroni and cheese, and dessert is chocolate cake," Myde continued. "Lea said they were too simple to screw up."

Ienzo couldn't help but think that Myde could find a way. But, as he hesitantly took a bite of the macaroni, Ienzo discovered that Myde hadn't found a way to mess up macaroni and cheese.

"It's good," he announced quietly to the expectant Myde.

"Really?" Myde looked fit to burst with happiness.

"Really," Ienzo replied with a slight smile. He quickly found himself on the receiving end of a bone-crushing hug.

"I'm so glad," Myde whispered into Ienzo's hair. "I thought you wouldn't even try it."

"Why wouldn't I try your cooking, Myde?" Ienzo was taken aback, to say the least. "You always eat mine."

"But you're mad at me," Myde murmured.

"I'm not mad at you," Ienzo insisted as calmly as he could, given that Myde was still crushing him. "Perhaps I was last night, but now I'm just mad at myself."

"Why?" Myde tilted his head to the side. "Don't be mad at yourself!"

"No, I should be," Ienzo muttered. "I forgot something very important."

"What's that?" Myde still refused to let go, and frankly, it was weirding Ienzo out.

"I forgot that, at the very least, your heart has been human for your entire life. Even when your body took the form of a cat, your heart didn't change. Not knowing how to act is fundamentally different from not knowing how to feel," Ienzo quickly explained, desiring a speedy reconciliation.

"So… does that mean you believe me now?" Myde asked, pulling away just far enough to bring them face-to-face.

"I…" Ienzo hesitated. "I do."

"I'm glad you understand," Myde chirped, giving the smaller boy a quick kiss on the lips. "I won't hold back anymore."

Ienzo's head was spinning as Myde loaded Ienzo's plate with macaroni and a large slice of chocolate cake, before skipping off to take a bath. Ienzo wished he had someone other than Myde to talk to. The topic of the day would have been, "my cat is in love with me, and I'm falling in love with him."

…Obviously, by day four, Ienzo couldn't let go of the whole "cat" thing. He was in no hurry to let go of it, either. It was the only thing that allowed him to retain some semblance of composure when Myde did things like come out of the bathroom wearing only a very loosely secured towel.

"Myde, what are you doing?" Ienzo asked, feeling light-headed.

"Forgot my clothes," Myde answered airily.

… Ienzo had decided. He was going to curse Lea, as he was the most likely culprit for the sudden loss of Myde's innocence. This was blatant seduction.

"Myde, did Lea teach you anything other than reading recipes today?" Ienzo asked lightly.

"Maaaybe," Myde replied teasingly, his towel hanging lower.

"So, now that you're sure I won't get mad, you've dispensed with giving me straight answers?" Ienzo struggled to keep the irritation out of his voice.

"Uh-huh," Myde chirped.

Myde couldn't be convinced to put on more than his boxers, and then proceeded to stick to Ienzo (literally) all evening. Ienzo thought he'd be able to escape when he retired to bed, but Myde followed him there too.

"Myde, I thought we agreed that we would sleep separately," Ienzo reminded the blond patiently.

"But I can't sleep if I'm not with you," Myde insisted.

"You have to learn to," Ienzo replied firmly.

"Why?"

Ienzo met Myde's eyes. "What do you mean, 'why?'"

"Why do I have to learn to sleep alone?" Myde elaborated stubbornly. "I want to sleep with you."

"I can't sleep if you're there," Ienzo muttered.

"Oh? Why's that?" Myde wore a triumphant grin.

"That's…" Ienzo knew that he'd been backed into a corner. By a boy who'd spent half of his life as a cat. "Forget it," Ienzo muttered.

"Okay," Myde chirped, crawling into bed next to Ienzo.

"That wasn't an invitation," Ienzo hissed, rolling over so that his back faced Myde.

"Uh-huh," Myde agreed skeptically, wrapping his arms around Ienzo's shoulders and pulling himself closer to the smaller boy, until…

"What are you doing?" Ienzo demanded frantically.

"Spooning," Myde answered calmly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world for him to be doing.

"Okay, what the hell happened to you today?" Ienzo exclaimed, struggling to break free of Myde's grasp.

"I grew up."

Ienzo's entire body went rigid. Innocent Myde who makes people uncomfortable by accident, he could live with. Adult Myde who was intent on seducing Ienzo was just more than he could take. He had to do something. Immediately.

"Am I going to be raped in my sleep?" Ienzo asked the taller boy as lightly as he could manage.

"What's rape?" Myde asked, his childish tone back in place.

Ienzo sobered quickly. "Do you know what sex is?"

"I know the basic idea," Myde assured Ienzo.

"Rape is when one person forces another person to have sex with them," Ienzo explained quietly. "It is a crime. Some believe that it is a crime worse than murder."

"I would never do something like that," Myde whispered. "Why would you even think that?"

"Because I don't know you anymore."

Myde fell into stunned silence, and left shortly afterwards for another night on his couch. Ienzo left without saying goodbye, as he had done the previous day. Myde was thoroughly depressed by the time Lea and Isa arrived.

"Alright, what happened?" Lea demanded, sitting down next to Myde on the couch/bed.

"I did what you said," Myde muttered.

"And?"

"He asked me if I was going to rape him," Myde answered in an anguished whisper. "When I asked him why he would think that, he said that he didn't know me anymore!" Tears were spilling freely from Myde's eyes, causing Lea to seek out some kind of tissue.

"He's projecting his own insecurities onto you," Isa explained tonelessly while Lea searched. "He feels like he doesn't know himself anymore. He has feelings and desires that he can't explain. Every moment that he spends in your company, his fear that he's going to do something terrible that he can't undo increases dramatically."

"He's trying to push you away so that you won't get hurt," Lea interjected, handing Myde a tissue.

"How do you know that?" Myde asked Isa and Lea in amazement.

"Has he ever said anything like what he said last night before?" Lea asked calmly, dispensing more tissues.

"No," Myde admitted. "He's always really nice to me."

Isa and Lea exchanged a glance. If looks could talk, theirs would've said "Nice for Ienzo, anyway."

"So, now that you know he's afraid of hurting you, your next step should be obvious," Lea told Myde cheerfully, slapping the blond on the back.

"Really?"

"You need to convince him that the only way he could possibly hurt you would be by pushing you away," Isa supplied.

"Oh, that sounds simple," Myde muttered, sarcasm coming off in waves.

"Don't knock it 'til you try it," Lea offered in a singsong voice. "Now, what should we talk about today? I think today feels like a human sexuality kind of day. The bees and the bees."

"Lea…" Isa warned.

"What? I don't think Myde's been properly educated on this topic. Have you, Myde?"

"Isn't it the birds and the bees?" Myde tilted his head to one side in confusion.

The wicked grin that spread across Lea's face should have been Myde's cue to run.

Myde made dinner again that night, as an apology for taking Lea's advice the previous day. He listened carefully for the sound of the door opening and closing that would mark Ienzo's return, cheerfully calling "welcome home!" Ienzo remembered Aeleus's comment about housewives and required a moment to compose himself before entering the kitchen.

…He almost ran right out again. Myde was wearing an apron.

"You made dinner again?" Ienzo kept his eyes as far away from the apron-clad blond as possible.

"I wanted to apologize," Myde explained quietly. "Yesterday… Someone told me to act that way. I love you, so I won't do that again. Can you forgive me?" Myde's eyes were brimming with unshed tears again.

Ienzo's chest panged with guilt. "You don't need to apologize."

"Why not?"

"I shouldn't have said what I said," Ienzo muttered, almost inaudibly. "I've never once thought you capable of such a thing."

Fat tears rolled lazily down Myde's cheeks, and he smiled a teary smile. "I'm so relieved," Myde whispered.

"Then why are you crying?" Ienzo asked in mild alarm.

"Because I'm happy, duh!"

"I don't want you to cry because of me," Ienzo told the blond matter-of-factly, wiping away some of the blond's larger tears with his thumb.

"Then kiss me," Myde whispered, more quietly than he'd meant to.

Ienzo's visible eye widened. "What?"

"Kiss me," Myde repeated in a stronger voice.

"What gave you the idea that I think of you that way?" Ienzo asked hoarsely, desperately wanting to break eye contact with Myde's watery aqua eyes.

"You can't sleep when I'm in bed with you-"

"That's-" Ienzo interrupted futilely.

"You don't want anyone else to see me looking "indecent-"" Myde continued doggedly.

"Common sense!" Ienzo interjected heatedly.

"You freak out when I touch you," Myde finished. Ienzo didn't have a comeback for that one. "So." Myde's face was much too close. "Kiss me."

Ienzo could feel Myde's breath on his face, could see the individual water droplets in his eyelashes, could hear Myde's rapid heartbeat under his trembling fingers. He'd never removed his hand from Myde's face after wiping away his tears. His finger sought the tangled blond hair at the base of Myde's neck, and trapped his fingers in the hair thoroughly. His eyes traveled downward, finding delicate pink lips, untouched by any other man. He brought their lips together, crushing them against each other's roughly.

At first, they were both content to just let their lips touch, but they quickly needed more. Ienzo's tongue tapped lightly against Myde's lips, asking for permission, which Myde quickly gave. Their tongues twined and separated, struggling for dominance over the other.

Their mouths eventually came apart when Myde forgot to breathe, and nearly suffocated.

"I told you to kiss me, not kill me," Myde wheezed, clutching his throat.

"It's your own fault for ignoring your oxygen levels," Ienzo shot back stubbornly.

Myde smiled behind Ienzo's back. This was how it was supposed to be.

"Do it again," Myde demanded cheerfully.

"Will you breathe when you have to?" Ienzo eyed Myde skeptically.

"Sure," Myde agreed breathlessly, leaning in.

Ienzo smirked, and went in for the kill.

* * *

Ienzo wasn't expecting to wake up next to Myde. When he'd gone to bed the night before, Myde hadn't followed him.

"Did I give you permission to be here?" Ienzo asked, yawning.

"I don't think you were awake," Myde murmured sleepily. "You said yes, though."

"That's cheating," Ienzo pouted, trying to roll away from Myde.

Myde made an unintelligible sound, then wrapped his arms around Ienzo's shoulders, until they were, yes, spooning.

"I believe we've talked about this before," Ienzo murmured, leaning into Myde's embrace.

"I don't see you trying to get away," Myde replied smugly, burying his face in Ienzo's shoulder.

"I just don't have anything to do today," Ienzo explained. "Lea won't be coming, either, so you're also free."

"So… we don't have to get out of bed?"

"Not until we feel like it." Ienzo replied, nodding sleepily.

Myde's only response was to squeeze Ienzo tighter and smile into his shoulder.

All in all, day six was one of the better days. Day seven, though…

"Myde, I have things to do today," Ienzo reminded the blond who refused to let go Ienzo's waist. "You cannot derail my day just because you have no obligations."

"But I wanna spend more time with you," Myde pouted, holding on tighter.

"Take a bath and go for a walk," Ienzo suggested, pulling his pants on around Myde's arms. "You haven't been outside in quite some time. You've certainly never seen the view from the wall as a human."

Myde's grip loosened, giving Ienzo the opening he needed to escape. He was out the front door before Myde could blink. "Damn, he's fast," Myde muttered petulantly.

Aeleus wasn't waiting for Ienzo in the hallway. Ansem was. "I have a job for you, Ienzo," was how he began, completely forgoing a greeting. "There is a woman wandering the castle, looking for someone. I believe that you can help her."

Ienzo nodded, stomping down his confusion. "Where was she last seen?"

"The bailey."

Ienzo set off immediately. He could have walked to the bailey blindfolded, but when he arrived, the woman wasn't there. She wasn't anywhere nearby, either. Ienzo looked and looked, but he couldn't find her. When he was about to give up, he noticed a woman standing on the wall, staring out at the town. Ienzo approached her cautiously.

"Can you help me find someone?" she asked suddenly, without turning to look at him.

"Possibly," Ienzo answered noncommittally. "Can you describe the person you're looking for?"

"Hmm." The woman furrowed her brow. "I haven't seen him in a few years," she murmured thoughtfully. "He'd be about 17… but then again, maybe not… oh!" The woman turned to face Ienzo suddenly, smiling broadly. "He's blond!"

…As if that's the revelation of the century.

Ienzo now had a very clear idea of who the woman was looking for. Not that she'd provided any useful information thus far, but her manner of speaking about this person, as well as her appearance and mannerisms, could only put one person in Ienzo's mind. Of course Ansem would send him to deal with this. He had to watch his tongue around this woman, or he could end up spending the next eight years as Myde's pet dog.

"I think I can help you find the person you're looking for," Ienzo told the woman confidently.

"Really?" Her brilliant aqua eyes shone with joy.

"Follow me."

Myde doesn't want to see her. She's the one who transformed him. She's the reason Myde and I met.

Ienzo had never worried about knocking on his own door before, but on that particular day, it would have been a good idea. The instant he opened the door, Myde flung himself at Ienzo, catching his lips in a passionate kiss. It took some time to pry the clingy blond off of him, and direct his attention at the surprised/amused woman waiting in the doorway.

"Myde, do you know this woman?" Ienzo asked him when he finally got their mouths apart.

Myde turned to look at her and stared. He didn't say anything.

"You're human again," the woman whispered through unshed tears.

"Yeah," Myde agreed indifferently.

"I suppose it was for his sake?" She nodded in Ienzo's direction.

"Did it have to be for someone?"

"That was the condition," she elaborated. "It doesn't matter what else you may have tried to turn back. You just had to want it for someone else." Ienzo watched the aqua eye look him over. "It was for him, right?" She demanded.

"Uh-huh." Myde illustrated his point by wrapping an arm around Ienzo's waist.

She smiled brightly, and gave her son a thumbs-up. "Good work!"

"Um, what?"

"I always hoped you would become human again," she confessed. "Though, you're still causing problems, I see."

"Ienzo doesn't mind, do you Ienzo?" Myde's grip on Ienzo's waist tightened.

"Of course I don't mind," Ienzo agreed easily. "I love Myde."

"…Myde," she murmured, trying the sound of the name. "Myde. I like it. It's a good name."

"Of course it's a good name," Myde murmured, blushing in embarrassment. "It's the name Ienzo gave me."

Myde's mother departed a short while later, content that her son was exactly where he belonged. As soon as she left, Myde dragged Ienzo back to bed for another lazy day. Neither of them said anything for a while. Ienzo's mind was oddly blank, and Myde was lost in thought. Finally, Myde sighed loudly.

"What is it?" Ienzo asked immediately.

"I just realized something," Myde admitted cheerfully.

"Oh?"

"I haven't been outside since last year," Myde muttered.

"Did you take your bath?" Ienzo asked expectantly.

"Of course!"

"Then let's go for a walk," Ienzo suggested.

Five hours and half a dozen mishaps later, Ienzo knew better than to let Myde near dogs, trees, birds, and a number of other things. The cat wasn't all out of Myde yet, but… Ienzo could confidently say that this year, and every year after, would be better than the years that had come before.

The End

AN: The ending might seem kind of abrupt... Oh well. This is a seriously long one shot for me, based on the idea that if Ienzo had a friend, he never would have tried to convince Ansem to build that laboratory, and the apprentices never would have become Nobodies.

Do you dare to review?


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